Views and News

Original Alice In Chains bassist Mike Starr was found dead today in Salt Lake City. It’s sad knowing that half of the original Alice In Chains line up is now officially gone. Mike Starr was a huge factor in the gold era of Alice In Chains (1989 – 1992). Mike’s bass playing was stamped all over the first two albums Facelift, and Dirt. Just listen to songs like “Would” and “Bleed The Freak” and you’ll know what I’m talking about. Mike played a big part in creating the signature sound of early AIC.

I only got to see the definitive Alice In Chains line up once back in the fall of 1992 when the came to Vancouver opening up for Van Halen, and to this day I can never forget the awesome chemistry on stage that Sean Kinney, Jerry Cantrell, Layne Staley, and Mike Starr had. I’ve seen them a few times over the years after that performance, but it was never the same. Seeing Mike on Celebrity Rehab was truly sad, as he looked to be in rough shape. I was hoping he would come out ok, but sadly it was not to be. R.I.P Mike Starr.

After all the arrows thrown at each other over the years (mostly by Nikki Sixx), Motley Crue and Poison are touring together through the United States this summer, with the New York Dolls as the opening act. This tour would have been stadium size huge twenty years ago, but in 2011??….don’t think so. Back in the Dr. Feelgood/Open Up And Say Ahhh days, both Motley and Poison were pulling in 20,000 seats each. Now they’d be lucky to pull in 10,000 together. After all the “Motley will never your with Poison”, “Cheese still sells” lines Nikki has gone on record to state, count this one to Mr. Sixx eating crow as usual. Anyways here are the dates if you care:

I think I found the ultimate girl for my metalhead friend Carlos. See, I’m jealous of her cause I could never pull of shit like this at a show (my hair is way to short). So for all you guys out there, if you see a super vixen like this at your next Deicide concert…snatch her up, cause girls like this are hard to come by.

Man, I got wind of this last night. Gary Holt has been brought on board for Slayer’s Australian five date tour. Gary is temporarily filling in for Jeff Hanneman on guitar, as Jeff is recuperating after some recent major surgery. As much as I love Jeff on guitar in Slayer, seeing Gary thrashing away next to Tom Araya will be a spectacle to behold. I love Slayer and Exodus both equally, so this pairing is a match made in heaven for me. I would love to see this line up in North America, but that ain’t gonna happen by a long shot. Time to crank some Fabulous Disaster.

Just checked out Killing Joke last week, and man did they put on one hell of a show. The band played in of my favorite places in Vancouver see shows, called The Venue. A great size place, with excellent sound. The show was almost sold out, kinda nice to see that that one of the seminal goth/industrial/punk pioneers have not been forgotten. Jaz and the boys blew my mind five years ago when they made a stop over in Vancouver back in 2003. I promised myself I would never miss another show of theirs. This time they played one of my favorite Killing Joke songs ever ”Eighties”!!

Thirty years later and the band are still going strong, as the new album Absolute Dissent and live show are both very strong, and can show the youngins out there how it’s supposed to be done. I always though the secret weapon in Killing Joke was their guitarist Geordie, If their is such a thing as the “signature” Killing Joke sound, then it revolves around Geordie. The lush surreal guitar tones clashing with the industrial sounds of the other members makes for one hell of a sweet racket. The industrial flame still lives on after all these years.

When it comes to keeping the putrid Carcass dream alive, none serve it as well as Spain’s own Haemorrhage. The chances of seeing them live in the US are as good as Barney Greenway being nominated as a judge on American Idol, so this live video is as good as it gets people. The band’s vocalist Lugubrious is one of the most animated grinds vocalists out there. The cool thing about Haemorrhage is, that unlike most death metal / grindcore bands, they stick a little humour in their stage presence and songs while still remaining heavy as f**k. All hail Spains finest!

In the mid 80′s, my best friend in junior high Dan always tried to get me into a young band at the time called Overkill. The glam loving fool I was, would not have any of it. Fastforward to 1991, and Overkill released their seminal great “Horrorscope”, and man was I converted. That record reeked of awesomeness. Totally heavy with grooves so deep even Tony Iommi would take notice. The gem on the whole record is the title track “Horrorscope”. The song is basically a slow, grinding, sinister number that still holds up twenty years later.

The secret to this band is the unique, raspy, and oh-so heavy stylings of Bobby “Blitz” Ellsworth. The man is one of the best thrash vocalists to ever come out of the 80′s thrash scene. Too bad Bobby has never gotten the recognition he deserves in the metal world. Anyway, check out the track below and tell me different.

I finally finished reading My Appetite For Destruction, and I have to say it was a damn fine read. When I found out last year that my favorite member of the original Guns N Roses line up Steven Adler was putting out his own book, the sixteen year old in me jumped for joy.

Steven doesn’t leave any stone unturned in this book, as he talks about everything from his early childhood upbringing to his final days in one of the biggest rock bands on the planet. My favorite parts of the book are Stevens stories about his relationship with Axl Rose, and the early road tours pre-platinum albums. What was it like touring with The Cult, Motley Crue, and Iron Maiden? It’s here in all its ugly glory.

The only nit pick I have is that, I wish Steven gave more pages to his relationship with Izzy, and Duff as much as he did with Axl and Slash. Also his days of working with Davy Vain in 1991 as part of the Road Crew project are a lil’ skimmed over. Other than that, I think the book does well in painting a picture of one of the most decadent periods of hard rock music.

The orgies, the drugs, the alcohol, get some major talking time in this biography. It’s pretty much a tell all, which I love to hear in my rock n roll biography’s. There will never be another time like the late 80′s hard rock scene, and Steven Adler puts a stamp of approval on that. Highly recommended read for any hardcore GNR fan.

Even more proof why Space Ace was carrying KISS while the other three tarts were just following his lead. Ace Frehley was the coolest member of KISS, and still puts our rock solid stuff. Just check out his last album Anomaly released last year, which totally kicks ass. I celebrate the man’s entire catalogue. Even the semi-cheesy mid 80′s Frehley’s Comet stuff.

If you really wanna see Ace at the top of his game, check out his acting performance Kiss Meets The Phantom Of The Park. Pure fucking genius.

WTF…These Czech Republic boys know how to thrown down the guttural sounds. I came across Spasm a few weeks ago, and had to do a double take. I thought Spasm were an up and coming band, but they have been at it for the past eight years. For fans of Carcass, Regurgitate, and Haemmorhage, you’ll eat this one up.